BODY-FORCE LINEAR ELASTIC STRESS INTENSITY FACTOR CALCULATION USING BOUNDARY-ELEMENT METHOD

A multi-domain boundary integral equation method employing isoparametric quadratic representations of geometries and functions for the analysis of linear fracture problems subjected to body force loading is presented. The crack faces are modelled in each sub-region independently. Both the opening and closure of the cracks are checked and the amount of stress intensity is measured. The crack might be fully open, semi-open or fully closed depending on the geometry of the cracked body, the crack length or the kind of loading the crack is under. In case of semi-closed cracks the different contact conditions can be introduced in the closed part of the crack. The main aim here is to show that by employing the boundary element method an exact and an efficient linear analysis of fractured bodies subjected to internal loading can be obtained as it is hard to find any analytical and exact values of stress intensity factors for any kind of geometry subjected to internal loading. Also, in this paper a method of transforming the domain integrals due to body-force to the boundary integrals is shown and has been effectively employed. The problems solved here include both the single mode or mixed mode with either open or semi-open crack fronts subjected to internal body-force or external loading. In comparison with other numerical algorithms it is seen that with ease and a least amount of effort in data preparation an exact solution can be obtained for these kinds of problems.